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The United States Court of International Trade (case citations: Ct. Int'l Trade), or CIT, is a U.S. federal court that adjudicates civil actions arising out of U.S. customs and international trade laws. Seated in Lower Manhattan, New York City, the court exercises broad jurisdiction over most trade-related matters and is permitted to hear and adjudicate cases originating anywhere in the United States as well as internationally.
The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO or AOUSC for short) is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system, established in 1939. The AO is the central support entity for the federal judicial branch, and it provides the federal court with a wide range of legislative (legislative assistance), administrative, legal, financial, management, program (program evaluation), and information technology support services.
The Judicial Conference of the United States directly supervises it. This body sets the national and legislative policy of the federal judiciary, and it is composed of the chief justice, the chief judge of each court of appeals, a district court judge from each regional judicial circuit, and the chief judge of the United States Court of International Trade. The AO implements and executes Judicial Conference policies, and applicable federal statutes and regulations. The office facilitates communications within the judiciary and with Congress, the executive branch, and the public on behalf of the judiciary. Administrative Office lawyers, public administrators, accountants, systems engineers, analysts, architects, statisticians, and other staff provide a wide variety of professional services to meet the needs of judges and more than 32,000 Judiciary employees working in more than 800 locations across the United States.
In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, circuit judges of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, district judges of the U.S. District Courts, and judges of the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Federal judges are not elected officials, unlike the president and vice president and U.S. senators and representatives. They are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The Constitution gives federal judges life tenure, and they hold their seats until they die, resign, or are removed from office through impeachment.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has special appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal cases involving patents, international trade, trademark registrations, government contracts, veterans' benefits, public safety officers' benefits, federal employees' benefits, and various other types of cases. The Federal Circuit has no jurisdiction over any criminal, bankruptcy, immigration, or U.S. state law cases. It is headquartered at the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building in Washington, D.C.
The Federal Circuit was created in 1982 with enactment of the Federal Courts Improvement Act, which merged the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and the appellate division of the United States Court of Claims, making the judges of the former courts into circuit judges. In addition to the Markey Building, the court also occupies the adjacent Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House, former Cosmos Club building, and the Cutts-Madison House in Washington, D.C., on Lafayette Square. The court sits from time to time in locations other than Washington, and its judges can and do sit by designation on the benches of other courts of appeals and federal district courts. As of 2016, Washington and Lee University School of Law's Millhiser Moot Courtroom had been designated as the continuity of operations site for the court.